Let's continue the discussion on “Introduction to Intellectual Property and Understanding Intellectual Property”. Among them, today we will look at the “job invention system”.
1. Job invention
Job invention refers to an invention achieved by an employee while performing work that falls within the scope of his/her duties. The job invention system is a system to create a virtuous cycle structure among employees, industries, and R&D. that expands R&D investment by inducing Job invention guarantees fair profits to employees who have made a job invention, it leads to company profits, which leads to research motivation to employees.
1) Requirement for establishment of job invention: According to the definition of job invention, the conditions for establishment of a job invention are that the inventor must be an employee, the invention belongs to the work scope of the workplace, and the invention belongs to the job of the employee. In order for the company to compensate for this job invention, it is important to define the scope of who is the inventor. In general, a person who participates in the idea and implementation of an invention is an inventor. A person who provides equipment or funds, a person who entrusts an invention or offers requirements, or a person who gives general advice is not an inventor.
2. Responsibilities and rights of employees
An employee who has made a job invention must immediately notify the company in writing, and when the company decides to succeed to the invention, the contents must be kept confidential until the invention is filed for a patent. Since an employee who makes a job invention basically has the right to obtain a patent, the employee has the right to claim fair compensation if he/she succeeds to this right or establishes an exclusive license.
3. Company's obligations and rights
If there is no contract or work regulations (advance reservation succession rules) in advance, the company has no obligations related to job inventions. The company cannot claim the succession of the right to the invention, and only has a free non-exclusive license.
If there is advance reservation succession rule, the company must notify the inventor employee of whether or not to succeed the right within 4 months from the date of reporting the job invention. If four months have elapsed, the company cannot claim the right to the invention without the permission of the inventor employee, nor can it have a non-exclusive license. If the succession notice is given within 4 months, the right to the invention is transferred.
4. Compensation for job inventions
If the procedure for compensation is stipulated in the work regulations and contract, the regulations must be followed. In the absence of regulations, the decision is made in consideration of the profit to be obtained by the company through the use of the invention and the contribution of the employees to the invention. The types of compensation are generally divided into application and registration compensation, and performance compensation when profit is realized. The standard of the compensation amount is determined by considering the profit to be obtained by the company and the contribution of the employees to the invention.
5. Case study
Company A, which makes communication equipment, is almost in the process of developing a prototype. At this time, Mr. P, the core manpower of product development, applied for a patent on core product-related technology, resigned from Company A, established Company B under his own name, and started to launch and sell the same product. The patent was registered and the rights were transferred to Company B. However, as the performance of the product was inferior to that of Company A, Mr. P sent a warning letter to Company A on the grounds of infringement of the registered patent right and requested to ban the production of the product.
In this case, Mr. P's patent transferred to Company B is a work invention because it is an invention of a product that Mr. P made in connection with his work while he was serving at Company A. Accordingly, Company A has a free non-exclusive license for this patent and is free to produce and sell products accordingly. If there is a clause in the contract between Company A and Mr. P that the employee's invention is inherited in advance, the patent right belongs to Company A, so Company B cannot produce and sell products without Company A's permission.
Today, we learned about the “Job Invention System”. Next, we will discuss “the content of patents”.
*I am a student learning IP, not an IP expert. Translation is also by Google translator and my insufficient English skills. I hope it will be helpful for those who do not have the relevant knowledge or who want to learn about IP.
*The above is what I learned from a book compiled by the Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Invention Promotion Association (published by Pakmungak) entitled “Introduction to Intellectual Property, Understanding Intellectual Property”.
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